


Bracelets

by pickleplum



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: M/M, Newt's fashion sense, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-12
Updated: 2013-12-12
Packaged: 2018-01-04 11:42:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 343
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1080609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pickleplum/pseuds/pickleplum
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They're not just a fashion statement.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bracelets

Newton Geiszler wears three bracelets on his left wrist. They are as much a part of him as his tattoos.

The oldest is a thin band of twisted leather. This one is a replacement. Years before, his father bought the original on their first trip to New York City. No matter where he went, the bracelet stayed with Newt, traveling with him to college, grad school, and around the world for conferences and with the PPDC. It made Newt feel like his father was holding his hand. Then there was an accident in the lab with acidic kaiju blood. The bracelet was ruined, burned into scraps, but Hermann’s quick reaction and the decontamination shower saved Newt’s hand. When Newt returned to the lab two days later, a similar bracelet with the surviving bits of leather worked together with a new thong was waiting in the middle of his desk. Newt’s always suspected that Hermann was the one who salvaged the pieces and had the repairs made, but Hermann stubbornly refuses to admit it.

Hermann gave him the obsidian beads before they were assigned to separate Shatterdomes for the first time since they met. Hermann placed the cool stones into his hand the last morning in the lab. He told Newt to count each bead and roll it between his fingers before moving to the next one if he suffered a panic attack. When Newt felt the walls closing in three weeks later, he remembered Hermann’s advice and started counting. After the first circuit, Newt no longer felt like he would die. After the second, his heartbeat and breathing had returned to normal. After the third, he was still nervous but ready to get back to work. It didn’t work as well as Hermann holding his hand and whispering to him in German, but it was enough to get him through. Newt no longer notices when he plays with the stones to calm himself.

The thick leather bracelet is his wedding band. Its clasp presses on the vein that leads straight to his heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Fill for [this prompt](http://pacificrimkink.livejournal.com/350.html?thread=910686#t910686):  
> “We can clearly see that he wears them, but why? What's the story what's the reason is it fashion is it sentiment did Hermann buy him one or does he get a new one every time there's a new Kaiju or did he start wearing them for luck and if so what prompted that? Sorry I am incoherent but that's the prompt basically. Anything to do with Newt and his stupid bracelets.”
> 
> Okay, this went way sappy on me. If there’d been more than three of ‘em, I think it would have come out fluffier. But three is too many to be a simple choice of fashion accessory and not enough to be some kind of punk rock statement for me. And even though they’re all black, they have very different structures, which implies to me they must have individual significance to Newt.
> 
> In my defense, this was finished before another fic featured a bracelet-as-wedding-band. It's just been sitting in my to-post folder for months.
> 
> Reference for the number and appearance of the bracelets is [this famous still](http://assets.sbnation.com/assets/2887083/pacificrim12_1020.jpg). I’ve see another picture where it looks like the middle bracelet is missing.
> 
> Music to set the mood: [The Replacements, _Tim_ , Track 1, “Hold My Life”](http://youtu.be/BOL2KW29Mpw).


End file.
